Red Bull chief Christian Horner knows that his team need to produce a race winning car to keep and increasingly frustrated Max Verstappen happy and keen to stay with the team beyond 2018.
Speaking to Algemeen Dagblad, Horner said, “First it’s up to us to give Max a car with which he can win before we talk about the future. If we manage this I am sure there’s no other team Max wants to race for than ours.”
Verstappen has been dogged with bad luck this season, five DNFs in ten races is hardly an encouraging statistic for the Dutch teenager who last year won the Spanish Grand Prix the week after he was promoted from the Toro Rosso team to Red Bull.
Despite the setbacks Horner is impressed with the teenager’s reaction, “I think he has shown enormous maturity. We are talking about a boy who at his age cannot even rent a car here in England!”
“At his age kids are thinking what subjects to study, while Max is dealing with big pressure, enormous expectations, massive interest. Look at all those Dutch fans who travel to see him.”
“Of course, he has shown some emotions, but he is also constantly under control. He does not behave like a little child whose teat is taken away, he does not throw his toys out of the pram. His working ethos is just very strong. In the car he just gets better.”
“His confidence grows. Max makes more daring decisions regarding the set-up of the car. He works better with his engineer. Builds his weekends better, qualifies stronger and is more consistent.”
“This phase in his still young career is also character-building for him. In a mechanical sport like Formula 1 you always get the highs and the lows. Here you are not only equipped with a racket, a stick or a ball. By accepting that, he will only get stronger and more complete. ”
The Red Bull RB13 has been lacking, a fact that already emerged during pre-season testing in February, “The problems were discovered quite quickly, but until we could really improve the car we were already three, four races into the season.”
“Since the Spanish Grand Prix, there has been a real progress in every race. Unfortunately, at Silverstone it did not show, but we’re clearly on the right track,” insisted Horner.
Verstappen has made no bones about the fact that he is dissatisfied with what he has to work with. Indeed he skipped a mandatory media debrief after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and was handed a fine for his oversight.
Horner said of this, “Put a microphone under the nose of a driver who has just retired from a race in promising position… Of course you will never hear him say: this was amazing.”
And added, “What I am talking about is: What can we achieve in the second half of the season? I want to see Max win another race, after the summer.”
Unless Red Bull can find that elusive “magic button” it appears that the team will remain third in the pecking order this year, victories – like the one enjoyed at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by Daniel Ricciardo – possible if Ferrari and Mercedes trip up.
Therefore it is no surprise that the factory at Milton Keynes have 2018 on the agenda already, Horner revealed, “Fortunately, the rules for next season remain virtually identical. The more we learn from this car, the more we will take it to the new RB14, which is constantly taking shape.”
Big Question: Can Red Bull hold on to Max?
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
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